The present invention relates to a golf trainer, and more particularly, to the control of a display portion of a microprocessor controlled golf trainer, and to the construction of a golf trainer adapted to display various parameters relative to a given club swing.
Heretofore, most golf trainers have had mechanical structures. For example, a trainer using a spring or the like is provided with a corded ball connected to the spring by the cord. The ball is hit by the golf club, and the stress occurring in the spring is measured with a scale to display the carry of the ball corresponding to the stress. Thus, the carry cannot be indicated accurately. Also, this prior art device utilizes a corresponding relation between the carry of the ball and the stress of a spring to indicate the carry, and therefore if a half shot, for example, is taken, the carry may not be displayed, because that carry may correspond to a value outside the range of stress displayable.
In the display of the carry, if the club is an iron, wood or the like, then the carry will be a meaningful piece of information. However, if the club is a putter, carry will be by no means meaningful, and should not be displayed on the display device.
Recent progress in semiconductor technique has lowered the prices of LSIs, such as microprocessors, and golf trainers using such LSIs have been proposed by the present applicant and others. Generally, movement of a swinging club head is detected by magnetic sensors, infrared sensors and so on, and various information relative to a swing, such as the speed of the club head, can be very accurately displayed.
In reality, such movements sometimes entail movements other than normal swings, for example a take-back or reverse swing, which should not be displayed. It would be helpful in practice to make such extraneous swings not trigger the display and to hold the previous data in the display portion.
Moreover, however, microprocessors now available yet lack the capacity to process a large quantity of highspeed information rapidly and accurately at a given time.